Pseudemys

Pseudemys is a genus of large, herbivorous, freshwater turtles of the eastern United States and adjacent northeast Mexico. They are often referred to as cooters, which stems from kuta, the word for turtle in the Bambara and Malinké languages, brought to America by enslaved people from Africa.

Etymology

The generic name Pseudemys is derived from the Greek words, pseudes meaning false or misleading, and emydos a freshwater turtle, implying a resemblance to, but not included in the genus Emys. The trivial names, or specific epithets, of five of the species are toponyms, named for places where the species were first discovered including, the Florida peninsular (P. peninsularis), the Suwannee River (P. suwanniensis), Alabama (P. alabamensis), Florida (P. floridana), and Texas (P. texana). Two are patronyms, or eponyms, honoring prominent zoologists, George Robert Zug, curator of Amphibians and Reptiles at the Smithsonian, National Museum of Natural History (P. gorzugi), and George Nelson, botanist, zoologist, and Chief Taxidermist at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard (P. nelsoni). The other specific epithets are derived from Latin: P. concinna, from concinnus meaning neat, trim, or skillfully joined, likely in reference to the relatively smooth, stream-lined shell, or possibly the colors and patterns on the carapace; and P. rubriventris, from rubidus reddish, and venter belly, referring the red color of the plastron.

Taxonomy

The genus Pseudemys has an extensive, complicated, and at times contentious taxonomic history. Historically the genus has been intertwined with other genera, at times included in other genera or having members of other genera include in it (Chrysemys, Clemmys, Emys, Ptychemys, and Trachemys), as well as the recognition of a number of additional subspecies well into the third quarter of the 20th century. As recently as 1984 one reviewer of the genus called the chrysemyd complex "a taxonomic morass". Another wrote "Pseudemys has long been recognized as something of a taxonomic quagmire, and has been the subject of a confusing litany of taxonomic arrangements." By the last decade of the 20th century, taxonomist were largely in agreement on a monophyletic genus and the recognition of nine taxa.